23 March 2016

Subpersonalities - Synthesizing and interpreting your Birth Chart

The problem with trying to synthesize charts is that we try to find the personality of a person.
But charts, as you have probably already noticed, can be extremely contradictory.
One part of the chart might show that you are ruthlessly ambitious, while another part of it shows that you are spiritually sensitive.
So what's the truth? Which part is the real you?

You probably know, from watching yourself and others, that people have different personalities depending on who they're with or what situation they're in.
But that does not mean that only one of them is the true and real personality and the other ones are fake facades.
The reality is that we all have subpersonalities.
Different psychological complexes which come out in different situations.
And they may overlap and influence each other.
But everyone is complex and has different sides to them.

How does one find subpersonalities in the birth chart?

When you look at the big picture of a chart you can sometimes see certain groupings of planets which are distinctly separate.
That's the case in my chart, for example.

For this approach, at least two planets need to conjunct to form a subpersonality.

Here's my chart as an example:

1. The philosophical psychologer formation

The major part in my natal chart is the big 11th house scorpio stellium which also includes my sagittarius sun in the 12th house.
All planets conjunct each other and create a huge focal point.

2. The expressive dramaqueen formation
Then there's my moon/mars conjunction in the 8th house Leo.

3. The alienated dreamer formation
In my first house, I have neptune and Uranus conjuncting in Capricorn.

Interactions between subpersonalities

It's also interesting to look at how the subpersonalities interact with each other by aspects.
Although my Scorpio stellium and Leo placements create tension (and the latter, because they are intercepted, tend to be neglected), both these subpersonalities have supportive aspects to my first house neptune/uranus conjunction.
So the conflict between my two major subpersonalities - the philosophical psychologer and the expressive dramaqueen, can find common ground, or find a mediator in my third minor subpersonality of the alienated dreamer.

How do you know whether a subpersonality is major or minor?

First of all, the bigger the stellium (accumulation of planets), the bigger the psychological complex. Obviously.
Another important point is that the personal planets, and especially sun and moon, are very important parts of the personality.
If only social planets (Jupiter, Saturn) and/or collective planets (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) are involved, it's likely more so a generational, collective trait and not a very conscious part of your personality.
Lots of people in my generation have the Uranus/Neptune conjunction, so it's not very unique to me.

Counting with the astrological alphabet

Then there's another way of finding themes in a chart:
Looking at the signs, planets, and houses in terms of different letters of the astrological alphabet.
These are the ones that rule each other or are associated with each other:

Aries, 1st House, Mars

Taurus, 2nd House, Venus

Gemini, 3rd House, Mercury

Cancer, 4th House, Moon

Leo, 5th House, Sun

Virgo, 6th House, Mercury

Libra, 7th House, Venus

Scorpio, 8th House, Pluto

Sagittarius, 9th House, Jupiter

Capricorn, 10th House, Saturn

Aquarius, 11th House, Uranus

Pisces, 12th House, Neptune

Your chart, at first glance, might look quite scattered and all over the place but if you have two planets in aries, another one or two in the first house, and your mars receives a lot of strong aspects (conjunctions, squares, oppositions), then the first letter of the astrological alphabet may be a strong theme in your chart and, consequently, one of your subpersonalities.
Planets in their own signs and/or houses are especially strong and create a dominant archetypal theme.

To take myself as an example again:

The strongest astrological letters in my chart is the 8th.

I have four planets in Scorpio, Pluto conjuncts and squares a whole lot of planets, and I have two planets in the 8th house!

Now try finding themes in your own chart and think about how these subpersonalities manifest in yourself and when they come out, what triggers them.

Also try giving them names, because it really helps you be self-aware.

You can catch yourself thinking "oh, my self-righteous know-it-all came out in that reaction".

It helps you understand your defense mechanisms and the complexity of your being.

Sometimes you get to stuck on one part of your chart and define yourself mainly through your sun sign or something and reject any part of your that does not match those traits.

But it's important to allow each of them to come out and realize that they are all parts of you.

Thank you for reading,

I'd love to hear your thoughts :)

Marina

3 comments:

It's really easy for me to identify these subpersonalities because I have clusters of 3 planets in 3 separate houses (the only planet that is left besides that is Venus, all alone in the 3rd house). I have Pluto, Mercury and Sun in the 4th house, all in the sign of Sagittarius; Neptune, Uranus and Mars in the 6th house, all in the sign of Aquarius and Jupiter, Moon and Saturn in the 9th house - Jupiter is in Aries and Moon and Saturn are in Taurus.

I have a question, however - should we only consider planets that are actually conjunct? Because my Moon conjuncts both Jupiter and Saturn (Jupiter and Saturn don't conjunct each other though) but, when it comes to the other clusters, Mercury and Pluto are conjunct but they don't make a conjunction with my Sun. The same goes for Mars and Uranus - they're conjunct but they don't conjunct Neptune. I'm just wondering because you always mention conjunctions in your case but, in my case, despite having planetary clusters in certain houses, not all the planets conjunct each other.

I also wonder about my Moon conjuncting Saturn and Jupiter in the 9th house because it feels like a subpersonality within a subpersonality if that makes sense? It's contradicting because all those planets are in the 9th house - the house of travel, amongst other things - but, since my Moon and Saturn are also in the sign of Taurus, I feel conflicted... because I have a desire to travel and move around, to leave everything behind (which I feel is only intensified by the fact that Jupiter is at "home"), but my Taurus Moon in particular gives me the intense need for stability.

All in all, I think I do see how these agglomerations are different personalities within a whole, I just wonder if I'm interpreting them right... especially when it comes to the houses.

Hi Marina, LOVE your blog! I have a question about conjunctions in the natal chart and interceptions. I've heard before that when you have intercepted planets the planets kind of just run amok in that house and you can't really control them. In my 5th house I have three planets in Sagittarius; my sun, mercury, and pluto. Pluto forms a tight conjunction with my sun and a very loose conjunction with my mercury. However, the strange thing is I never feel in touch with my powerful identity or my penetrating mind. In fact, sometimes I look at my chart and think sometimes that these conjunctions shouldn't even be there. Could this possibly be because of the interception? My 5th house starts in Scorpio and my 6th house in Capricorn.